The Farm are a band from Liverpool, England. They
were popular through the early 1990s. Their album Spartacus
stormed to number one in the UK albums chart when it was released
in April 1991.
The band are seen to be influenced by the Madchester
movement.
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Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Line-up
- 3 Discography
- 4 External
links
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History
The Farm was unofficially called Soul of
Socialism in the early 1980s. This band was comprised of Peter
Hooton, Steve Grimes, John Melvin and Andy
McVann who was killed in a 1986 car chase, running away from the police.
The band evolved out of an earlier group called the Excitements,
initially including Phil (stinker) on bass, Neil (Cad) Campbell on
drums, as well as Steve Grimes on guitar. They became the Farm after
Martin Dunbar (vocals) left and Peter Hooton joined. The name came from
a friend's Farm where they used to practice. In the 1980s they released
a single, "Hearts and Minds", produced by Graham
"Suggs" McPherson, lead vocalist with Madness.
In 1986,
after McVann's death, Melvin quit the band, to pursue a varied career
as the director of his own construction firm, but he eventually
returned to music in 1990 under the guise of "Mr Smith", a two piece
band that would tour frequently, but not release anything of note.
After the departure of Melvin and the death of McVann, Hooton promptly
brought in a new line-up. They released four Indie singles but failed to
earn themselves a big break until 1990.
In 1989,
the band had been given a cameo role in the movie The
Final Frame, starring Graham McPherson of Madness
fame. They were signed up on the back of this and hired McPherson as
their producer. Their first single under new management was "Stepping
Stone", a dance re-make of The Monkees' "(I'm Not Your) Steppin'
Stone", a 1966
single which in its day reached #20 in the U.S.
Billboard charts.
They were soon featured in The
Face, an influential pop
culture magazine in the UK, and their promotion of "No alla violenza"
anti-hooligan
t-shirts
during the Italia 90 helped raise their
profile further.
The Farm's first song to reach the upper end of the UK
singles chart was "Groovy Train", which reached the Top
Five in September 1990. Later that year, they released their most
famous song, "All Together Now"
which was a huge hit.
It was on the crest of this wave that their album Spartacus
reached #1 in the UK. However, this wave broke very quickly, and their
first major-label single (on Sony), "Love See No Colour" (1992), was not
particularly successful, which led to a split from producers Pete
Heller and Terry Farley, and the band joined up with Mark Saunders, the
man who had produced Erasure and The
Cure. They released a cover of Human
League's "Don't You Want Me", but this only reached the Top Twenty.
The band were down, but not quite out. In 1994, they released
the album Hullabaloo,
on the record label Sire, followed by their last major
single release. Despite being a group largely supporting Liverpool
F.C., they released a single to accompany the presence of their
cross-city rivals, Everton, in the 1995 FA Cup Final.
Their most recent release was "All Together Now (strike
three)", as the official anthem of the England National
Football Team at Euro 2004. It was released on May 31, 2004, having been
remixed with the help of DJ Spoony.
Line-up
- Peter Hooton - Vocals
- Steve Grimes -
Rhythm guitar,
keyboards
- Keith Mullin -
Lead guitar
- Carl Hunter - Bass
guitar
- Roy Boulter - Drums
- Ben Leach - Keyboards
and programming
Others
- Kev Sampson - Manager 1989 onwards
The Farm
Singles
|
| Stepping Stone |
April 1990 |
| Groovy Train |
August 20, 1990 |
| All Together Now |
November 26, 1990 |
| Don't let me down |
April
22, 1991 |
| Mind |
August 12, 1991 |
| Don't You Want Me |
1992 |
| All Together Now (Everton) |
May 1995 |
| All Together Now (Euro 2004) |
May
31, 2004 |
| All Together Now (World Cup 2006) |
June
16, 2006 |
Discography
Singles
- "Stepping Stone/Family Man", 1990 - #58 UK
- "Groovy Train", 1990 - #6 UK
- "All Together Now", 1990 - #6 UK
- "Sinful! (Scary Jiggin' With Doctor Love), Pete Wylie With
The Farm, 1990 - #28 UK
- "Don't Let Me
Down", 22
April 1991 - #36 UK
- "Mind", 12 August 1991 - #31 UK
- "Love See No Colour", 1992 - #58 UK
- "Rising Sun", 1992 - #48 UK
- "Don't You Want Me", 1992 - #18 UK
- "Love See No Colour (Remix)", 1993 - #35 UK
- "Messiah", 1994
- "Comfort", 1994
- "All Together Now" (Everton FA Cup Final Version), May 1995
- "All Together Now" (England Euro 2004 Version, The Farm
featuring SFX Boys Choir), May 2004 - #5 UK
- "Starteam" (England World Cup 2006
Version) June 2006
| Year |
Title |
Chart Positions |
Album |
| US Modern Rock |
| 1990 |
"Stepping Stone" |
-
|
??
|
| 1991 |
"All Together Now" |
#7
|
Spartacus |
| 1991 |
"Groovy Train" |
#15
|
Spartacus |
Albums
- Spartacus,
April 1991
- Love See No Colour,
1992
- Hullabaloo,
1994
- The Best of The Farm,
1998
- All
Together Now:The Very Best of The Farm, Early
2003
- The Very Best of The Farm,
June 2004
- Greatest Hits, December
2005
External links
